Gabriel and the Wacky Pack (film)
Gabriel and the Wacky Pack is a 2011 American computer-animated 3D buddy-comedy film loosely based on The Wacky Pack comic book series created by Geo G. It was produced by Blur Studio and Geo LTD. Pictures, and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is Blur Studio's first film. It is also Geo LTD's first computer-animated film since The Nut Box. It was directed by Tim Miller, David Stinnett, and Geo. The film is set in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania and it stars the voice of Zachary Gordon as Gabriel, an artistic, creative, sweet, friendly, lazy, smart 10-year-old boy who is the adapted owner of a small wacky pack, Roge, Leno and Cole (voiced by Geo G., E.G. Daily, Nicky Jones) and had a midnight "party" in his room; and the voice of Jennifer Hale as Blues, a small imaginary girl who betrayed Roge for some reason. Gabriel, Roge, Leno, Cole and the lars need to defeat Blues. Development for a Wacky Pack film adaptation started as far back as 1991. Geo LTD. and Blur Studio acquired film rights for The Wacky Pack comic book series in 2004 after the release of Gopher Broke. The founders of Blur, David Stinnett, Tim Miller and Cat Chapman, created a model of protagonist Gabriel and some animation tests to showcase their design ideas to Geo G. The main voice actors were approached in 2007. In October 2009, Geo LTD. announced that the film would begin production in June 2010, and that the film is scheduled for a Thanksgiving 2011 release date. The film made it's world premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre on October 21, 2011, and Universal released the film in the United States on November 25, 2011 to film received generally positive reviews by both fans and film critics, with critics praising its humor and character development. The film was also a box office success, grossing over $439 million in the United States and $538 million worldwide. The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and for Academy Award for Best Original Song (for "Life of Myself"), losing both to Happy Feet Two. It launched a franchise with a series of films, including a sequel in 2014, to be followed by a third film in 2017 and a fourth in 2019. In addition, two spin-offs, titled Wacky Pack and Lars and The Vocaloids, were announced for 2016 and 2018 release dates. Plot Gabriel is a smart 10-year-old boy who is the adapted owner of Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy and the Lars. He also had a midnight "party" in his room with them, which have so much fun. One day, Roge, Leno, Cole and three Lars (John and Cody) were off at top of a cell tower, which was located at Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, to take a photo for a "surfing" portrait. Suddenly, the surfboard that Roge, Leno, Cole, John and Cody were on starts to move slowy to the ledge and begins to surf without the water like in air. Their brother and scientist Loy gives Gabriel and the lars the safest moment to spring up being bipedal. After the Wacky Pack interrupt a meeting with his wild antics, Loy has a talk with his brother Roge and his partner Gabriel, in which he tells them that he's a scientist and inventor, and never be happy if Gabriel and the Wacky Pack just goof off. Gabriel and Roge ignore their advices and have fun with Leno and Cole. That same day, Roge meets a new yet imaginary girl named Blues. That night, Gabriel and his gang throw a massive party in his room; all the imaginary friends including the lars are there except Loy, who is making a invention in his lab. Roge is assigned his shift along with him, but he talks himself out of it, saying that he's needed for a certain role in the midnight party room. Loy talks with Roge and says that he was called by people a "coolest scientist in the world." Roge is given the privilege to party out, and the thankful brother runs to Gabriel's room. More coming soon! Cast :Further information: List of The Wacky Pack characters *Zachary Gordon as Gabriel, an artistic, creative, sweet, friendly, lazy, smart 10-year-old boy who is the owner of a small wacky pack, Roge, Leno and Cole *Geo G. as Roge, the first and the leader of the wacky pack who wears a red cap *E.G. Daily as Leno, the second of the wacky pack who is very intelligent and known for his rebellious attitude and was named by Roge's brother Loy after the famous actor and talk host Jay Leno. *Nicky Jones as Cole, the third of the wacky pack who is afraid of everything *Jennifer Hale as Blues, a small imaginary girl who betrayed Roge for some reason *Jake T. Austin as Loy, Roge, Leno and Cole's bigger brother *Sarah Jessica Parker as Christina, Gabriel's mother who takes care of her son *Laurence Fishburne as Mel, Gabriel's father and Christina's former husband *Ariel Winter as Desirae, Gabriel's older sister *Rob Paulsen as Michael, Gabriel's older brother who moved away to Japan *Frank Welker as Roxy, a Cocker Spaniel and Gabriel's pet dog **Welker also voiced Kratos, Gabriel's former pet dog and was moved to Michael *Alex Borstein as Pat, Gabriel's neighbor *Grey DeLisle as Gaby, Gabriel's girlfriend when he was little *Tara Strong as Bella, Gaby's liitle sister *Tim Miller as Jim, Tom, Dan, Jerry, Jack, Sam, Jeff and Max, eight of the lars *David Stinnett as Gary, Ben, Peter and Ted, four of the lars *Cat Chapman as John and Cody, two of the lars Production The development process on Gabriel and the Wacky Pack was rocky, when the production started "way back" in 1991. New Line Cinema acquired the film rights of the comic book series The Wacky Pack in 1992. New Line and Cinergi Pictures started the production in July 1992, while the traditional animation and CGI animation were both handeled by Geo LTD Animation. New Line Cinema was later acquired by Turner Entertainment in 1994 and the rights were eventually gaven to Columbia Pictures. Later, the animation was handeled by Columbia TriStar Feature Animation (Columbia TriStar CGA at Shanghai and Burbank until 1995, then by Sony Pictures Imageworks and Industrial Light & Magic until 1996). Columbia Pictures gave the distribution rights to Warner Bros. Pictures in 1996. Following the Turner-Time Warner merger, Castle Rock Entertainment and Hanna-Barbera Productions were set to produce the movie with Geo LTD and Cinergi. Cinergi Pictures closed down in 1998. In 2000, Geo LTD was purchased by DreamWorks on November 2, 2000. Geo LTD and PDI worked closely to each other for around 5 years (under the DreamWorks parent company; Geo LTD Animation continued the work for another 5 years) on the film then entitled "The Wacky Pack Movie". In 2004, after the release of Blur Studio's short film Gopher Broke, Geo LTD. and Blur started courting Geo G. on getting the adaptation rights for The Wacky Pack. The founders of Blur, David Stinnett, Tim Miller and Cat Chapman, created a model of protagonist Gabriel and some animation tests to showcase their design ideas to Geo G. In 2005, the film was retitled from The Wacky Pack Movie to Gabriel and the Wacky Pack. In September 2007, Geo LTD. signed a 50-year distribution deal with Universal Studios for both domestic and international markets. The animation was, this time, produced by Universal Animation Studios and animated by Film Roman, Blur Studio and Geo LTD Animation. Universal Animation Studios was almost ready with animation production when Universal Animation Studios focused on the other projects, left the production team and it was completed by Geo LTD Animation afterwards. The lead voice actors were approached in 2007. Max Records was originally going to voice Gabriel, but had other commitments outside production; he was later replaced by Zachary Gordon. Al Shier and Jeff Fowler were then hired to write the script, to be directed by Miller, Stinnett, and Geo. In October 2009, Geo LTD. confirmed that a feature film based off the comic book series was currently in pre-production in June 2010, and scheduled to be released in 2011, and that Universal Pictures would distribute the film. On March 16, 2010, Blur announced that composer Heitor Pereira would compose the film's music, along with Randy Newman. Production eventually wrapped up in October 2011. Release In November 2009, Universal set the film for a release date of October 7, 2011, and later November 25, 2011. The teaser trailer for the film was attached to Tangled, released in theaters on November 24, 2010. A theatrical trailer was later released on May 25, 2011. It was then attached with Kung Fu Panda 2. The last theatrical trailer is attached to the 3D re-release of The Lion King which was released September 16, 2011. The world premiere of Gabriel and the Wacky Pack took place on October 21, 2011, at TCL Chinese Theatre, and was released by Universal Pictures in the United States and Canada on November 25, 2011. Marketing Several merchandise were made for Gabriel and the Wacky Pack, such as toys and figurines. Universal teamed up with several major companies to promote the film, including McDonald's, who included 8 toys in their Happy Meals featuring the main characters, and Airheads, who made limited-edition flavors "Lar Flavor" and "The Wacky Pack's Strawberry Taste". Home media Gabriel and the Wacky Pack was released in the United States and Canada on DVD and Blu-ray on March 12, 2012. The United Kingdom release date was April 19, 2012, and the Australian release date was May 23, 2012. The release includes a new short film, titled How Gabriel Met Gabriela. It also includes Blur Studio's Academy Award-nominated short film Gopher Broke. Gabriel and the Wacky Pack is available in 4 different packages: a 4-disc "Wacky Edition" combination package (3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy), a 3-disc "Wacky Edition" combination package (Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy), a 2-disc "Wacky Edition" combination package (DVD and Digital Copy), and a single disc DVD. The "Digital Copy" included with the 3-disc combination package is a separate disc that allows users to download a copy of the film to a computer through iTunes or Windows Media Player software. The 3-disc combination package also comes with an hour of bonus features. Video game A video game based on the film was published by Activision and released on November 22, 2011, for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360. Reception Critical reception Gabriel and the Wacky Pack has received positive reviews from critics. Based on 87 reviews, the film holds a 94% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus stating "Gabriel and the Wacky Pack is an fun masterpiece for the whole family". On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has an average score of 62 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Box office The film grossed $68,368,836 on it's opening weekend, being released in 4,200 theaters, leaving it #2 during the weekend behind The Artist in the United States. The film grossed $445,627,853 in North America and $84,942,573 in other countries, with a total gross of $389,300,952 worldwide, making the film a box office success. Accolades Soundtrack Coming soon! Sequels and spin-offs The first sequel, titled Gabriel and the Wacky Pack 2, was released on November 21, 2014. On July 15, 2014, Geo LTD. announced planned sequels to follow Gabriel 2, with the third film on November 24, 2017, and the fourth film on November 29, 2019. In December 2014, two specials were announced. A crossover with Geo, titled Geo and the Wacky Pack, is set to be aired on NBC in May 2016. A Christmas special is set to be aired on NBC in November 2016. A spin-off reboot/prequel film featuring Roge, Leno, Cole and the lars as the main characters, titled Wacky Pack and Lars, was scheduled to be released on August 5, 2016, but was changed to October 7, 2016 to avoid competition with Sony Pictures Animation's untitled The Smurfs reboot. It was first announced on July 15, 2014 along with Gabriel and the Wacky Pack 3 and Gabriel and the Wacky Pack 4. Written by Keith Lango, it will be directed by David Stinnett and Jeff Fowler, and produced by Cat Chapman. The film will based on the first issue of The Wacky Pack. On December 24, 2014, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that, due to the popularity of the Vocaloids from Gabriel and the Wacky Pack 2, the characters will get their own spin-off film. According to the report, Universal was targeting a August 10, 2018 release date for the spin-off. Idina Menzel is set to reprise her role of Hatsune Miku, while David Fincher, who was the co-producer of the first film, will direct the film which is being written by Tim Miller and produced by Geo G. and Al Shier. Category:Non-Geo Articles Category:Films Category:Gabriel and the Wacky Pack Category:Films distributed by Universal Pictures